In my web browser, I have a tab set for the astronomy picture of the day. Often, the photos are of deep space. Viewing these photos is such a simple and refreshing way to remember that it’s not personal. The whole catastrophe is exploding, dying, being reborn–all of it, the play of awareness. These rays of the prism, these bodies–whether celestial, human, or microscopic–come and we go. That’s the way of it.

So why do we take it so personally? Because we have imagined ourselves separate from the whole–and created a “me” and a “you,” “mine” and “yours,” fences, territories, countries, and war.

Maybe–just maybe, if we are willing to look at our direct experience–prior to thought, prior to what anybody has told us we should believe–we’ll discover a simpler, clearer truth.

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3 responses to “it’s not personal”

I’ve got a National Geographic poster of the “Known Universe” on the wall in my home office. Of course now it is hopelessly outdated as we keep being able to look deeper and deeper into space. Nevertheless this “small” version of the Universe serves as a reminder of perspective. PIr Vilayat was fond of the expression of being caught up in the “storm in our teacups” Those teacups look pretty small when we consider the WHOLE.